July 19, 2021 | Matthew 10 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue In the military, soldiers are sent out on a mission, following clear directives from their leaders. They need to be ready because they do not know when they will be sent or where they will need to go. They do know that they will need […]
July 15, 2021 | Matthew 9:27–38 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue When people are hurting, God responds! Earlier this year, a church in West Virginia decided to host a last-minute food drive to help feed hungry families in their community. In just a few hours, people arrived with enough food to fill the back of a […]
July 11, 2021 | John 10:1–30 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue The well-known “shepherd hymn,” Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us, describes the compassionate care the Lord gives His children. “Savior, like a shepherd lead us, Much we need Thy tender care; In Thy pleasant pastures feed us, For our use Thy folds prepare.” The author, […]
July 10, 2021 | 2 Samuel 12:1–14 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Literary scholar Leland Ryken describes the meeting between the prophet Nathan and King David as a “confrontation story.” He explains: “Usually the confrontation implies some tension or dissonance that needs to be acknowledged and resolved . . . [C]onfrontation stories imply an element of […]
July 9, 2021 | Luke 15:1–7 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue A. W. Tozer wisely commented: “The only safe place for a sheep is by the side of his shepherd, because the devil does not fear sheep; he just fears the Shepherd, that is all.” Today’s reading is often called the “parable of the lost sheep,” […]
July 6, 2021 | Isaiah 40:1–11 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Many famous paintings have pictured Jesus as the Good Shepherd, carrying a lamb over His shoulders or in His arms. In fact, some of the earliest artistic depictions of Jesus found in the Catacombs of Rome portray Him not on a cross, but as a […]
July 5, 2021 | Micah 5:1–9 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue For about seven years, Moody Bible Institute graduate Caleb Fetterhoff has been living and ministering to semi-nomadic shepherds high in the mountains of Lesotho in southern Africa. These shepherds care for flocks that belong to wealthy owners down in the valleys. Their lifestyle put them […]
July 4, 2021 | Psalm 80 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue A famous hymn, often sung to a Welsh or Irish tune, celebrates God as our Shepherd: “The King of love my shepherd is, whose goodness faileth never. I nothing lack if I am his, and he is mine forever. Where streams of living water flow, […]
July 3, 2021 | Ezekiel 34 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue In ancient Palestine, caring for sheep looked different from what we see today. According to the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, “Sheep were not fenced in and left to fend for themselves. Instead, they were totally dependent on shepherds for protection, grazing, watering, shelter and tending […]
July 2, 2021 | 1 Samuel 17 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue The first shepherd in Scripture, Abel, was also the first murder victim (see Genesis 4). In the first five books of the Old Testament, a shepherd was a common occupation. We meet Jacob, whose flocks God greatly blessed (Gen. 31:4–9). Moses was taking care […]